Skip to Content

Turtle Sex Determination Just Got a Lot Weirder

Tiny antenna-like cell appendages play an outsized role

30 Minutes, 3 Exercises: A Routine for an Aging Brain

And you thought you were done with the three Rs

When Dreaming Gets Your Heart Moving

Deep dreaming may be more in tune with the body than we thought

This Supernova Death of a Star Broke All the Rules

An unexpected way to go for a star 20 times the size of our sun

AI Made Me Look Foolish. Then I Learned

Ancient alchemy has a lot to teach us about chatbots

Latest Stories

Taxi Drivers Rarely Die of Alzheimer’s—How Complex Mental Maps and Spatial Reasoning Protect Your Brain

Working with and living in spatially complex environments may help delay cognitive decline, though more research is needed

Inside the Not-So-Dumb Head of the Dodo Bird

Cranial scans reveal a brain with clever sensory adaptations


Read Stories from Our Newest Print Issue: The Stupid Issue

See more

Why We Think We Know More Than We Do

Breaking down the famous “Dunning-Kruger effect” with David Dunning himself

When Stupid Was a Diagnosis

A dark history that is in danger of returning as support for people with disabilities withers

What Makes Humans Stupid

It takes intelligence to get things spectacularly wrong. An essay on our undoing.

How Hannibal’s War Elephants Helped to Determine His Route Through the Alps

When you go into battle with nearly 40 gigantic pachyderms, you need to take the shortest path possible

The Rabies Vaccine Debuted Nearly 150 Years Ago Today

Pioneering microbiologist Louis Pasteur helped save the life of a dog-bitten boy

This Was a Big Week for Marie Curie, More Than 120 Years Ago

Despite steep odds, she became the first woman in France to earn a doctorate in science

How Much Do We Really Want to Know About UFOs?

What disaster psychology research, a few Cold War UFO files, and a Spielberg movie say about how we might handle first contact

What Do People Think About?

Sex barely made the list. Coffee and cats fared better.

Get unlimited, ad-free Nautilus. Become a member today.

A “Hellish Cloud” Descended on Los Angeles in 1943

It marked the city's first smog incident. Here’s what it looked like—back then and over the years that followed.

Mountain Lions Make Roads Safer

The hidden safety benefits of these kings of the mountains

These Ancient Sea Worms Have “Biometal” Jaws

Not as scary as a great white shark, but the science is fascinating

What a Picture of a Dog Has to Do with Reason and Logic

People who can’t see images in their minds challenge an old philosophical standby

Science Is Political—and Spiritual

Author and physicist Chanda Prescod-Weinstein on the crisis in American science

Read more

See all posts

Depression Linked to Shrinking Brain Region in Older Adults

The memory center of the brain show signs of decreasing volume

Could Physics Help Us Solve the Mystery of Aging?

Some scientists say the answers may lie in thermodynamics and other mathematical principles

Pesticide Exposure at Work May Increase Motor Neurone Disease Risk

A new review looked at 1,734 people with ALS. But it couldn’t separate pesticide from other risk factors, such as head trauma.

Financial Struggle Can Age Your Brain

Persistent poverty can accelerate cognitive decline starting in your 50s

Life Originated Twice on Earth

New research traces the origins of our metabolism back in time

A One-Two Punch: New Drug Overfeeds—Then Starves—Cancer Cells

The two-step process could help fight other diseases as well